In case you haven’t noticed, I really like to eat. Some of my Instagram friends have jokingly threatened to stop following me if I don’t quit posting pics of all the food I eat.
I love good tasting food, but, I don’t always love to cook.
Back when I was married, I cooked all the time. Like 4 or 5 nights a week. Amazing how we all get hungry every few hours and need to be fed. I know those of you with families get that. We have to feed ourselves and eating good food at home is the best and most cost effective way to do that. And I have to admit, not having a man to cook for is easier. I can get by on much less food than when I was cooking for a family. I can eat snacky food and I definitely don’t cook for myself every night.
My roommate and I do take turns cooking sometimes and we both buy food and share what we bring home. But, we don’t eat all the same things, so I’ll make myself pasta when I feel like it. We do eat a lot of salads with grilled chicken and those can be mixed up with whatever fresh fruits are in season. It’s definitely cheaper to cook at home and not go out to eat all the time. But, going to the grocery store and meal planning can be a challenge. I used to come up with about 5 meals a week and go to the grocery store with my list intact, buying all the ingredients I would need to get those meals prepared at home. Not always a fun prospect, as I’m sure you can relate to. I don’t know many folks who love going to the grocery store. 
I was recently contacted by Blue Apron to try out their meal delivery system and thought, that sounds like a fun idea! This means they ship a box of 3 meals to you, along with all the ingredients and recipe cards. This box arrived with all 3 meal ingredients packed inside. I had heard about services like this, but had never tried one out. I was definitely impressed! 
I was amazed at the shipping container, with foamy insulation and ice packs at the bottom and top, keeping all the food very chilled, right to my front door. 
I separated and took out the ingredients to make the Pan-Seared Cod and love how they mark all the packages with their cute Blue Apron labels, making no mistake on what is what. The recipe card has the finished meal on front, with a list of all the ingredients needed to make the recipe and on the back of the card, all the steps to make a delicious meal. Everything was included except olive oil and salt and pepper, which we all have on hand. Any of the specialty ingredients for the recipes was included. 
I followed the directions precisely, cutting up the veggies and potatoes and separating the fresh herbs, dicing them up. 
Next, they went into the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper added on top, along with parmesan cheese. 
While that was all baking in the oven, I prepared the cod with a rice flour mixture that was in the package. 
Pan seared with a bit of olive oil, it was cooked in just a few minutes. 
Rhonda and I enjoyed this delicious meal of pan-seared cod, with roasted potatoes and yellow squash. The flavors were really good and I’ll definitely keep the recipe cards to use again. 
I also tried out 2 other meals from Blue Apron, this one was Spice-Rubbed Pork Medallions with peach salsa and cilantro green bean rice. It was yummy too! 
The third meal was Pan Roasted Chicken thighs with roasted eggplant with a delicious sauce over it and a tomato and fennel salad, which was also very tasty. I loved all 3 dishes that I got to try out and really think the concept of Blue Apron is a good one.
I can see older folks using this service who want tasty and delicious meals, but don’t want the hassle of going to the grocery store. Or a busy working mom, who wants to keep meals on the table for her family. Or really for anyone who needs a break from the chore of grocery shopping, but doesn’t want to resort to eating out all the time. I know many families get in the habit of grabbing food out on the go and that can really add up in expense too. Not to mention, most of that food isn’t good for you.
Plus, half the battle of cooking at home is figuring out WHAT to prepare and then going to the grocery store for all the ingredients.
I love the fact this this is fresh ingredients, made from scratch and it’s not hard to prepare at all. If I can do it, anyone can do it! Here are some great facts to consider with Blue Apron:
- Blue Apron allows you to create delicious, chef-designed recipes at home.
- Blue Apron delivers all the farm-fresh ingredients you need, right to your doorstep, in exactly the right proportions. No trips to the grocery store and no waste from unused ingredients.
- They send you three meals per week – for two, four, or six people. Meals are $9.99 per person with free shipping.
Blue Apron recipes are delivered in a refrigerated box so ingredients will stay fresh even if you’re not at home when your package arrives. - Blue Apron offers a large selection of recipes and is always adding new dishes to their menu every week.
- Blue Apron is available to most of the country, shipping to over 80% of the country (full map of delivery zones).
- There’s no commitment – you can skip or cancel the service at any time!
- Always free shipping
Some dietary facts from Blue Apron:
- Each menu is between 500-700 calories per person.
- Ingredients are incredibly fresh and sourced from quality local suppliers and artisans.
- All meals can be prepared in 40 minutes or less.
- Blue Apron lets you learn to make new recipes and cuisines so you can get out of your dinner rut of making the same old dishes or relying on take out.
- Chefs in training around the world wear blue aprons – it’s a symbol of lifelong learning in cooking.
If you’d like to try out Blue Apron, here’s a good discount for you.
- First 50 readers will get two free meals on their first Blue Apron order!
If you’d like to try out the Blue Apron meal service, just go to Blue Apron at this link and start the ordering process. Blue Apron has a cookbook too and you can find it online.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Blue Apron, but all opinons are my own. I received the products, cooked the meals and was thoroughly impressed with Blue Apron.
Hi Rhoda…I enjoy your blog and read it daily! I just read today’s on Blue Apron and it looked so good that I decided to give it a try. Thanks for always giving so many tips whether it is decorating or “eating”! My son and family have recently moved to Marietta and I am looking forward to visiting some of the shops and places you mention in your blogs.
Melanie
Hi, Melanie, I really did love Blue Apron’s meals and concept and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Half the battle of meal planning is buying the ingredients, so this takes care of it for you.
When I say Blue Apron I thought it was an apron you had — but after reading the post I got to thinking what a wonderful service this is. There is nothing like fresh ingredients to make great meals. I love to cook so to me it is an enjoyment — now decorating I struggle with. I guess we all have our talents. You have such a great imagination and your projects are lovely. Anyway, I think Blue Apron is fantastic if you don’t have the time to shop for ingredients but want to make great meals.
With one teenager still at home, I cook almost every night. I was thinking 9.99 is expensive per person, but if you have a busy schedule and add in the gas to the store, etc. . . you really couldn’t get this nice of a meal (or healthy) at a restaurant.
You always have interesting things to try!
we had something similar where we lived in Florida, except you went to a shop that had the recipes and all the ingredients. You just picked out what you needed and put it into biggies yourself. No chopping required as it was all done for you. It was very good also.
I love to cook but on days I work, it can sometimes feel like a chore. For only 2, I have found that what works best for us (me, the cook!), is to cook a couple of good meals where I will have leftovers for others nights. Thankfully, my hubby loves leftovers. I also use my crockpot a good bit. The blue apron sounds like a good concept and I can see it more for older people, etc. but I don’t really see us using it. I use fresh ingredients but we have several excellent produce markets in the area and I prefer to pick out my own meat and produce, etc. All of those meals look good except I will not eat chicken thighs (LOL), but I’m sure you could sub chicken breasts. Enjoy!
I had to give my credit card information before I saw what the meals were for the first week VERY DISAPOINTED!!!! First meal: BEANS; second meal: BLT SANDWICH; third meal: chicken;
BEANS? Really? BLT sandwich? Really?
I could not find a phone number to cancel these meals. Now they have my credit card number, I have been charged for these meals and I am trying to contact someone to cancel. I trusted you to promote a good company and this does not appear to be a good company!!! They should have a customer service phone number!!!!!!
I checked the contact us links, there is a email contact you can use here,
“To cancel your account, email our customer service team at [email protected] before your weekly cutoff.”
Cindy, sorry that the meals weren’t what you expected. The three meals I got that week were all really good. But, you have a contact email now so go ahead and cancel. You can also check out the meals every week before ordering and skip a week or cancel at any time. I haven’t looked at all the meals, so don’t know the variety way ahead of time. I just know I was happy with the ones I got.
Rhoda, thanks so much for sharing photos of how the ingredients come packaged. I’ve read numerous other blogs featuring Blue Apron, but none of them actually showed the packaging! SOOO many people have made comments about how this is so bad for the environment, etc., but I don’t think it’s too wasteful. Now if only we can get them to expand their service to include Texas!!! Come on Blue Apron, give Texas some love!!!
I signed on to try this. This should work great since there are just two of us. I like to try new dishes and new cuisines. The meals include ingredients I’ve wanted to try but didn’t because I didn’t want to buy a whole package of something and then not like it. Pretty adventurous eating ahead–I’m looking forward to it. Thanks!
I think this is a great idea..I just shared it with a friend who’s mom is homebound and lives in another state but still mobile in her home. My friend plans to order a few weeks of meals for her mom to try it out. I think it’s a great service for those who would like to “gift” a new mom, or a homebound senior…a nice gift without cluttering up their house!
Sounds like a great gift for a new Mother, or a Housewarming gift. Someone whose circumstances could be helped by receiving a few meal ingredients, that relieve them from getting out (such as a caregiver), would appreciate a box from Blue Apron, too.
oops, great minds think alike, Carol D. ; )
I love those ideas, ladies! I can definitely see this as a welcome gift.
We’ve been purchasing Blue Apron for almost a year. Their ingredients are always high quality and tasty.
This seems really expensive to me. I would have to pay for 4 and that adds up to 120$ per week for three meals. And what would we eat for the other 4 nights? Plus lunches and snacks. And don’t we all buy fresh ingredients when we shop? I do. Who buys half rotten produce or fruit? I agree this would be great for someone who is homebound; a family with a new baby or as a gift,etc.